


you fit me better than my favourite sweater

by brightbluelou



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up, Lots and Lots of Kids, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Mpreg, Mpreg Harry, Pregnant Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-05-30 23:18:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6446230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightbluelou/pseuds/brightbluelou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry didn't mean to fall in love with his best friend, and he definitely didn't mean to get pregnant. Despite that, it’s probably still the best thing that’s ever happened to him. And after that, well. It just kept getting better.</p><p>or; the one where Harry and Louis are friends-with-benefits and Harry unexpectedly gets pregnant. Harry never wants to stop getting pregnant after that, but Louis thinks seven kids is probably enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you fit me better than my favourite sweater

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mariposaeloie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariposaeloie/gifts).



> This was based on the prompt that Harry finds out he's pregnant when he's already really far along and after they keep having more kids. (I'm also very sorry, maryposaeloie, but there's no gender non-conforming child since I forgot to add that in and kinda ran out of time! I hope you like it anyway.)
> 
> Soooo, I hope you all enjoy it! I surely enjoyed writing it, even though it's quite different from everything I've written before. 
> 
> The title is from the song 'Blue Jeans' by Lana del Rey.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Harry, Louis, Liam and Niall.

“Harder,” Harry breaths out. “Please, Lou, harder!”

Louis complies and Harry lets out a deep moan. “That’s good.” He sighs, but after a few particular hard pushes, he tries to slap Louis’ hands away. “Not that hard!” He exclaims.

Louis gets his hands of Harry’s back and slides down to sit next to him on the sofa. “That’s not what you said last night, babe.” He says with a wink. Last night was a different matter. (Harry always wants Louis to fuck him hard, because he likes the burn, but that’s beside the point here.)

Harry rolls his eyes, but the smile on his face makes clear that he doesn’t mind the joke. He stretches out, enjoying the way his joints feel. Louis is a _great_ massager, and Harry makes sure to let him know

“From now on, you’re obliged to massage me at least once a day.” He says, resting his head against Louis’ shoulder.

Louis just raises his eyebrows. “Is that so?” he says, feinting offense.

Harry doesn’t bother, though. “Yup. You have no choice. My back is hurting like hell, and as my flatmate _and_ best friend, you’re obligated to help me.”

Louis just shakes his head in amusement. “You are one of a kind, Harry Styles. There’s no doubt about that.”

Harry bites his lip and smiles softly. Seriously, how is he supposed to not be madly in love with Louis when he always keeps saying things like that?

“Okay, so how about this,” Louis says, gently stroking Harry’s hair. “I go order us some pizza, and in the meanwhile you pick out a movie?”

Harry groans in content. “That sounds like a _great_ plan,” he sighs.

Louis just laughs and stands up. “I’ll be right back! Please pick a good movie.” And with that, he disappears into the kitchen, presumably to call the pizza deliverer.

For a few moments, Harry just lays there. Yet again, he’s astonished with how _easy_ things are between them. How when it’s just them, Harry doesn’t have to try. He can completely let go and just be himself.

Harry could lie and say that things haven’t always been like that, but in all honesty; it’s all he’s ever known with Louis. Ever since they met when Harry was sixteen, things between them had just felt _right_. Like puzzle pieces falling together perfectly. And now that Harry's 21 and Louis is 24, it's still like that. Louis is the best friend Harry’s ever had. _His rock._ And, well. Then there are the little extras.

They didn’t start having sex until about a year ago, and when it happened, it came as a surprise to both of them. They drank too much, and in the morning they woke up naked in the same bed. They then decided that it was convenient and easy, and that they both wouldn’t mind it happening again. They wouldn’t have to bother with trying to pull at a club and, well. Their sex was pretty mind-blowing. And their feelings? That’s something they never talked about. Not then, and not now.

Maybe it should be weird, but for some reason it’s not. Never with them. _But then Harry just had to go ahead and fall in love with Louis._

Louis’ voice shakes Harry out of his thoughts. “Pizza will be delivered in about 10 minutes! You’ve better picked out a movie!” he shouts from the kitchen, and then he appears in the living room again. “And it better not be _Love, actually_ again.”

(They watch _Love, actually_ that night, because Louis is pushover when it comes to Harry. They also watch some episodes of _The Walking Dead_ afterwards as a compromise, even though Harry absolutely hates scary stuff like that. Louis doesn’t let go of him once though, and Harry supposes that that kinda makes up for it.)

 

**-**

 

Harry doesn’t understand. He’s been eating healthy, he’s been regularly working out, his weight hasn’t changed in over 2 years and yet, he can’t seem to button up his favourite skinny jeans. He’s tried lying down with his legs in the air, jumping up and down, sucking in his stomach, and literally _nothing_ is working.

Harry goes to stand in front of the big mirror in his bedroom, turning from side to side – standing in just his boxers. He tries to close his jeans one more time, and pouts when they still don’t fit. Frowning slightly, he strokes his hand over his stomach and turns sideways to properly look at it. He blinks a few times – almost as if in shock – when he notices that his belly _is_ slightly bigger than it used to be. It’s like it has gone softer, and a little bump has formed itself just above his pants. So he _has_ been gaining weight then. He sighs, and then moves to pull off his jeans, choosing to put on trousers that aren’t quite as snug around the waist as these skinnies.

 

-

 

Harry’s tried everything. He’s been eating even healthier – barely consuming anything greasy – and he’s started working out even more intensively. It’s not working. In fact, each time he looks in the mirror, it’s like his belly is even more pronounced and it keeps growing. His shirts span tight across his stomach, and the only thing that still fits him right now are his yoga pants, his joggers and his big loose sweaters.

And the thing is – it’s really annoying, because he doesn’t find his pronounced belly to be very attractive, and well. He likes to be attractive for Louis. Since Harry started to feel uncomfortable with being naked around Louis, they have barely had sex. And maybe that would be okay – except for the fact that Harry is just _so, so_ horny. (He finds a solution.)

(Later that day, Louis doesn’t know what hits him when he enters the flat and finds Harry opening himself up on the couch. Harry is wearing the big lavender sweater that he _knows_ Louis loves, so when Harry presses him down on the couch and rides him like there’s no tomorrow – and still wearing the sweater – he does not protest in the slightest. And Harry, well. He has his mission accomplished, since he’s had Louis’ cock up his ass without Louis seeing his stomach. All in all, it’s a good day for both of them.)

 

-

 

Harry has no idea what’s happening to him. His belly seems to keep on getting bigger, and in fact, it only starts to make sense when he’s complaining about it to Liam.

“Li, I don’t know what to do! I keep getting bigger, and I don’t know _why_ ,” Harry groans. He knows that he’s complaining, and he’s sure that Liam has better things to do than listening to Harry’s whining on the phone, but he just can’t help it.

Liam sighs deeply, and Harry can almost hear him rolling his eyes over the phone. “Harry, c’mon mate. It’s not like you’re _fat_ , you just have like… A cute little bump. Your weight is still perfectly healthy. In fact, I know there’s lads that would _kill_ to have a body like yours.”

Harry stays quiet, and distractedly twirls a curl between his fingertips.

Liam takes Harry’s silence as a sign to continue. “Look H, I know you don’t like this, but I’m sure it’ll be gone soon. I _promise_ you that you don’t look bad. Actually, I’ve been noticing that you look really good lately. All like, _glowing_ and all that shit.”

Harry frowns at that. He didn’t really know what Liam meant by _glowing_. Sure, his hair had been looking extra shiny and long lately, but he’s pretty sure that’s because his new shampoo is just really good. (It smells like apples.)

He goes to stand in front of the mirror again and lifts his shirt with the hand that’s not pressing his phone to his ear. “Li,” He whines again. “Even my tattoos are looking weird. It’s like – my butterfly looks _pregnant_ , Liam!”

It’s only when he says that out loud that the quarter falls. Holy shit. _Pregnant_.

Liam starts talking again, but Harry doesn’t pay attention to a word he’s saying. All that’s going through his mind is _fuck_ and _shit_ and _what the hell_.

“Oh my god,” He whispers, interrupting Liam and making him stop talking. “Oh my god, oh my god,” Harry keeps frantically saying.

“Harry?” Liam says, concern clear in the tone of his voice. “H, are you alright?”

Harry is _not_ alright. He presses his fingers to his sleep, trying to make sense of the mess inside his head. “Look Liam, err – I’m going to call you back later, ‘kay?” Even Harry himself can hear how strained his voice sounds. “I – I think I may know what’s going on, just… Talk to you soon.” He doesn’t give Liam a chance to answer, as he immediately hangs up and throws his phone on his bed, before plumping down on it himself. He puts his head in his hands - elbows resting on his knees - and mentally makes a list of everything he can remember about pregnancy.

Morning sickness? No. Fatigue? Not really. Back aches? Sure, but he’s always had those.

Harry can’t match up the symptoms. The only give away that he _could_ be pregnant, is his tummy – as it’s been steadily expanding. There aren’t any other obvious clues that might give away that he’s expecting, but somehow, Harry just _knows._ Since the moment that he started thinking about it, everything is just clicking into place. He and Louis are always so caught up in each other when they have sex that it’s perfectly possible that they may have forgotten protection one or two times. In fact, Harry’s not even sure if they’ve ever used protection, ever since they made their deal.

In that moment, Harry is sure. He’s pregnant.

(He buys five different pregnancy tests later that day. All of them turn out positive.)

 

-

 

“Okay, Harry.” The woman in front of him says. Dr. Walters seems friendly enough, but it doesn’t quite help to put Harry at ease. “I just checked your blood results, and it seems as if were right. You’re pregnant, congratulations!”

Harry lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He was already pretty sure that he was right, but it’s nice to have it officially confirmed.

Liam squeezes Harry’s hand from where he’s sitting beside him, and Harry is glad that he’s not here alone. It took some time, but in the end Harry convinced both Liam and Niall to come with him. Harry shoots a quick look to Niall, who’s sitting on his other side. And, well. If Harry thinks he himself isn’t fully at ease, Niall surely isn’t. He constantly shifting his eyes from one side of the room to the other, and had it been any other situation, Harry would’ve burst out laughing.

“So, what I propose, is that we go and take a quick look,” the doctor continues. “As we don’t know how far along you are, we’ll check if I can see anything yet with a transabdominal ultrasound and if we don’t, we can still do an internal one.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry notices that Niall suddenly seems a few shades paler. Harry focuses back on dr. Walters and nods. “Okay,” he says.

“Don’t worry,” she says, seemingly sensing that he’s a bit anxious. “Judging from the bump you’re already sporting, I’m expecting that we won’t need to do an internal one.”

Harry quickly moves to the examination table to lie down, Niall and Liam moving to come stand beside him. Harry literally has _the_ best friends ever.

He barely hears the doctor’s warning that the gel may be cold. All he’s focused on right now, is seeing his baby and making sure they’re alright. He may have only just found out about them, but he already cares about them _so much_.

“There we go!” Dr. Walters says, as she moves the stick up and down his belly. “Oh yes, we can _clearly_ see a baby here.”

Harry looks at the screen, and his eyes are immediately filling with tears. He can hear Liam gasp in the background, but he doesn’t pay any attention to it. It is _so_ clear on the screen. Even before dr. Walters points it out, he’s already recognized the head and rest of the body.

Harry softly laughs, happiness flooding through his body, and Liam and Niall both laugh along. Niall seems to have gained some of the colour on his cheeks again, and is now intensely staring at the screen. “Holy shit,” he mutters. “That’s a real baby, H.”

Harry nods and turns to dr. Walters, who’s studying the screen. “Is everything alright with them?”

Dr. Walters doesn’t answer, and moves the stick around again before looking down at her papers. “Oh dear…” She says then.

Harry swears his heart stops beating. “What’s… What’s wrong? Is the baby okay?”

Dr. Walters looks up at him again, and smiles. “Oh yeah, they look perfectly fine! Sorry dear, I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Harry sighs deeply in relief, but dr. Walters is still staring at him, making him feel as there’s something going on.

“When exactly did you find out you were expecting, again?” she asks.

Harry frowns. “Two days ago?” He doesn’t understand why she’s asking that. “Why?” he asks.

Dr. Walters’ eyebrows rise in surprise. “Well,” she says. “It seems like you may be a bit further along then we thought.”

Harry frowns. “How long is further?”

“From what I’m seeing here, I’m guessing you’re about 28 weeks along actually.” Dr. Walters says, and she herself seems almost as surprised by that as Harry.

“28 weeks?!” Harry gasps. “That’s about…” He quickly tries to calculate, but his brain is _not_ cooperating.

“Almost seven months.” Dr. Walters says, correctly guessing what Harry was trying to say.

Harry doesn’t get to say much after that – because all of them are startled by the loud noise of someone hitting the ground.

Harry groans. _Of course_. Niall fainted.

 

-

 

Harry is freaking out. He's telling Louis later today, and he's absolutely losing it. But he has to do this, he knows he has to. (He also had to promise Liam about five times that today was the day, but that's beside the point.)

This could go very wrong. Harry is sure that he wants this baby, and he's sure that he wants this _with Louis_. He's known since he was sixteen that Louis is the man he wants to grow old with, and he is _so, so_ in love with him. The only problem is that Louis has never shown any sign of being in love with Harry. (According to Harry anyway. Niall could probably write sonnets about how he thinks Louis feels about Harry.)

And sure, Louis tells Harry that he loves him pretty much every single day, and Harry answers 'I love you too' right back at him, but that's only as a friend. Harry might mean that he's in love with him with every fibre of his being, but he's pretty sure that Louis means 'you’re my best friend, I don't know what I'd do without you.'

So yeah, Harry is freaking out. And right now, he has approximately one hour to get his shit together before Louis comes home from work.

Harry is lost in his thoughts when he finally hears the front door opening. A few moments later, Louis steps into the room.

“Louis. You’re home.” Harry says stupidly. “Hi.” He continues as an afterthought.

Louis’ eyebrows rise in amusement as he steps further inside and closes the door behind me. “That I am, babe. Missed me?”

“Yes, I- No, I mean…” Harry stumbles over his words, and then he just decides to shut up.

Louis frowns. “Are you alright?” he sounds worried, and quickly moves to take his coat off, carelessly throwing it over a chair.

Harry clears his throat. He seriously needs to get his shit together. “Yeah,” he says, shaking his head softly. “I’m okay, sorry. I just-“ he pauses. “Can you maybe, like… Come and sit down for a second? There’s… There’s something I need to tell you.”

Louis is clearly confused, but he listens and sits down on the kitchen chair in front of Harry. He opens his mouth to say something, but Harry doesn’t give him the chance.

“Don’t.” he says urgently, before he loses his courage. “Just… Just let me talk for a minute, please? It’s important.”

Louis hesitantly nods. “Alright, mate.”

 _Mate._ Harry closes his eyes for a moment. There’s no way Louis even feels remotely the same for Harry as Harry feels for Louis. After all, Louis clearly only says him as a _mate_. The word has never sounded more offensive and hurtful to Harry.

“Okay,” he says, opening his eyes again. Louis is staring intensively at him, clearly searching for any hints in Harry’s facial expressions.

Harry sighs deep, and just as he opens his mouth to talk, Louis does the same.

“Are you sure you’re okay, H?” Louis rattles, and at the same time, Harry quickly exhales a clear “I’m pregnant.”

Louis freezes in his seat and his mouth comically falls open.

Harry looks down. “I’m sorry.” He softly mutters.

That seems to snap Louis out of his trance. “Shit, H, no. You- Don’t say sorry for that.” His voice sounds a bit weak.

Harry looks up again, only to find Louis staring at his stomach.

Louis shakes his head. “Don’t apologize, this- Fuck. This is on both of us, we… We should have been more careful and-“

A single tear makes its way down Harry’s cheek.

Louis swiftly stands up and moves closer to Harry, carefully wiping the tear away with his thumb. “It’s okay, H. It’s… We’ll get through this okay?” He wraps his arms around Harry to pull him into a hug.

And that, well. That sends Harry into hysterically sobbing into Louis shoulder.

It takes him a while to calm down again, and all throughout it, Louis just stays quiet and softly rubs Harry’s back. When Harry finally stops crying, Louis carefully pulls away and looks him in the eye.

“Are you okay?” He asks, voice soft.

Harry nods. “Yeah, I… I think so.”

Louis nods slowly. “It’s gonna be okay, yeah? We’ll figure something out.”

For some reason, that hits home hard for Harry, and he immediately cradles his bump with his hand, as if protecting it. He frowns deeply. “I am not getting rid of it.” He says, and for once his voice sounds steady.

Louis immediately starts shaking his head. “No! Shit, no, Haz. That was not what I meant, no. Seriously, I wouldn’t… “ He actually sounds offended.  
Relief floods through Harry and he tries to relax his tense body again.

“I, erm.” Harry says then. “Sorry. But like, even if… Even if I did want to, like, abort… It’s not really possible.” He continues, licking his lips carefully.

Another confused frown makes its way to Louis’ face. “What do you mean?”

Harry scrapes his throat. “It’s too late. I’m… I’m about seven months along.”

Louis immediately takes a step back. “Seven _months?!”_ he says, voice sounding harder than before. “You are _seven months_ pregnant and you only thought to tell me _now_?” He shouts, and his loud voice makes Harry shrink in on himself.

“Jesus, we’re _best friends_ , H! Why the hell didn’t you tell me? I deserved to know! That baby is just as much mine as yours, and you _know_ it!” He spits.

Tears start spilling out of Harry’s eyes again. “I didn’t-“ He says incoherently. “I didn’t know, Lou, I promise! I really didn’t know, I- “ He tries to continue, but his voice breaks.

Louis immediately calms down at that and he pulls Harry into his arms again. “Sorry, sorry. I’m sorry for screaming. You’re okay.” he says, and he can’t seem to apologize for at least 20 seconds after that, as he keeps saying it ‘till Harry calms down again. Then Louis steps back again, keeping hold of Harry’s shoulders, “You… You didn’t know?” He says carefully.

Harry shakes his head. “No. I-“ He pauses. _Why is everything so difficult?_ “I started noticing that I was gaining weight, and that my belly became more pronounced, but I… I didn’t really show any other symptoms, so I didn’t think any of it. But then it just didn’t seem to stop, and I kept getting bigger so I- I took a few pregnancy tests last week and they all turned out to be positive. I went to the doctors yesterday and they confirmed that I was 28 weeks along.” He quietly sniffles.

Louis bites his lip. “Is that… Is that why you didn’t let me see you naked anymore? Were you… Were you embarrassed about your stomach?”

Harry looks up in surprise - he didn’t think Louis had noticed that. He nods.

“Silly boy,” Louis chuckles, and Harry’s eyes widen. “You should know by now that I like you no matter what. I don’t _care_ what you look like, okay?” Louis says then.

Harry’s heart is about to burst, and he’s about to say something again, but Louis cuts him off.

“I love you,” Louis says.

Harry nods. “I know, you tell me all the time.” Because Louis does. _If only he meant it the way Harry did_.

Louis frowns. “No, H. I mean that I’m _in love_ with you. As in _you’re my favourite person in the entire world_.”

Harry’s eyes widen. “You…” he starts, but he doesn’t get any words out of his mouth.

Louis worriedly bites his lip. “Please say something. I know you might not feel the same way, but-“

“I love you, too.” Harry blurts out. Then he flies forward to urgently press his lips against Louis. It tastes salty through both of their tears, but that doesn’t matter in that moment. “Of course I love you, _shit._ ”

Louis laughs at that, and the sounds make Harry’s heart float.

They spent a few moments making out, but then Louis remembers what exactly Harry just told him. “So,” he says, pulling away from Harry’s mouth. “Pregnant, huh?”

Harry bites his lip and nods. “Do you… Do you wanna see?” he says.

 _“Fuck yes,”_ Louis immediately answers, and he steps back to pull Harry’s sweater up. At the sight of Harry’s bump, he immediately sinks to his knees and presses his lips to Harry’s skin.

“Hi baby,” he whispers.

Goosebumps rise on Harry’s skin, as Louis’ lips move against his belly. Knowing that it’s _their_ baby in there is just unbelievable, and Harry has difficulties wrapping his head around it.

“Your daddy and I are gonna take good care of you, peanut,” Louis murmurs to Harry’s belly. “We’re gonna be the best and the coolest parents _ever_.”

Harry laughs softly at that, making Louis look up to him. “We’re gonna be alright, H,” he says reassuringly. “You, me and this baby. We’ll be the greatest team that the world has ever seen!”

Harry pulls Louis back up and wastes no time in pressing their lips together. “I love you.” He whispers. “I love you _so, so_ much.”

Louis grins against his lips. “I love you too.” He whispers back. “I love you more than anything in the world.”

Harry slightly pulls away. “And little peanut as well?” he teases, softly biting his lip.

Louis immediately nods. “And little peanut as well,” he confirms. “From now on, you two are the most important persons in my life.”

Harry closes his eyes and leans his head against Louis’ chest in amazement. This is real. Soon, there’ll be three of them, and they’ll be a real _family_.

Harry can’t wait.

-

It’s later that day, when they’re sitting on the couch just silently enjoying each others company, that Harry lets himself think about it.

“Everything’s gonna be different now,” he softly mutters. Louis’ arm is wrapped around his shoulder and Harry rests his head on Louis’ shoulder.

“Well, yeah,” Louis agrees. “That’s kinda what having a baby implies. There’s gonna be a lot of changes, but I’m sure we can handle them. Together.” Louis turns his head a bit to get a better look at Harry, and he brushes a curl from his forehead.

Harry frowns slightly. “I know. But that’s not really what I meant,” he says. “I meant with, like. Now that we’re like _really_ dating. Things are bound to be different, right?” His voice sound unsure.

That makes Louis sit up straighter, and he frowns deeply. There’s a hint of a smile lingering on his face though. “Harry, what exactly do you think will be different? Now that we’re _properly_ together?” he says.

Harry looks up to him. “I get to call you my boyfriend,” he immediately answers – not missing a beat.

Louis chuckles. “Of course. And other than that?”

Harry grins. “I get to kiss you whenever I want,”

“And other than that?” Louis continues. There’s now a wide smile on his face.

“I…” Harry starts, but then he seems lost for words. He frowns. “I don’t really know, to be honest?” He then says after a silent pause.

“Exactly,” Louis says, and he presses a sweet kiss against Harry’s forehead. “Nothing will really change,” he goes on. “We may not have been _officially_ dating yet, Harry. But, well. We’ve practically been dating for a year, H. Ever since we’ve started sleeping with each other.”

Harry blinks sheepishly. For a while, he says nothing, but after a while he opens his mouth again. “We kinda have, haven’t we?”

Louis nods, making Harry squeal. “Louis Tomlinson, you totally have been dating me for a year!” He says accusingly, and he swings his legs over Louis so he’s sitting on his lap.

“Harry Styles, pot meets kettle! You totally have been dating _me_ for a year!” Louis exclaims, making Harry giggle.

“How about we just have been dating each other?” Harry says then, as he rests their foreheads together.

Louis grins as well. “I’d say that’s an accurate statement.”

For a few moments, they just stare at each other, but then a realisation washes over Harry.

“Oh no, Louis,” he groans.

Louis immediately frowns. “What? Is something wrong?! Is the baby…” he doesn’t finish his sentence, because Harry clasps his hand around his mouth.

“Everything’s fine. Baby’s doing great, I think.” He says, and Louis wonders what the problem is then. “It’s just,” Harry continues. “We’ll have to tell our moms.”

Louis eyes widen, and Harry drops his hand. “Well, shit.” He says, but then he laughs. “They don’t even know we’re dating! Jesus, they’ll have a field day with this.”

And well, Harry can’t really help it then, he just laughs along. He knows that no matter what, they’ll be alright. They have each other now.

 

-

 

The next weeks are, well. _Hectic,_ to say the least. There’s only about two months left to prepare everything for the baby’s arrival and things are all getting a bit crazy. Harry and Louis try to take it day by day and do everything step by step, and so far they’ve been doing a pretty okay job. Sometimes, the craziness is a bit much to handle though, and although Harry’s imagined being pregnant at least a hundred times, nothing could really prepare him for _this_.

 

The first major hurdle to cross is telling their parents. Harry and Louis both dreaded this quite a bit, but in the end, it worked out better than expected.

Coincidently, Jay planned to visit barely a week after Harry and Louis found out about the baby. They debated for a while if it was maybe too soon to tell, but in the end they just agreed that they could use all the help in the coming months.

They didn’t even have to tell Jay that they were dating. The moment she walked in, she took a long look at them both. “Something’s different…” She said, and then she squealed loudly upon seeing the guilty looks on their faces. “You two finally figured it out! You’re dating, aren’t you?”

Louis froze at that, but Harry smiled wildly. “Are we that obvious?” he said jokily, and Jay immediately nodded.

The rest of the evening passed, well. Strangely. It was clear that Louis and Harry were constantly squirming around something and Louis was actually surprised that his mum didn’t call them out on that.

When they finally dropped the bomb, Jay immediately burst out in tears – _from happiness, not disappointment,_ she assured them. And sure, maybe she did tell them that they hadn’t been very responsible, but her overall positive and excited reaction definitely made up for it.

And when they later told Anne over Facetime – since she didn’t have the time to come over – she pretty much reacted the exact same way.

All in all, telling their families turned out surprisingly easy.

 

Then they have to start planning, though. The two months leading up to the birth of their first little munchkin, go by in a haze. Harry wakes Louis up in the middle of night nearly every night, and the reason concerns the baby every time. Once, it’s because Harry is worrying about who should be the godfather. Two nights later, it’s because they have only thought out of girl names ( _“But what if they’re a boy, Lou?! Maybe they feel bad now because we’ve only chosen a girl name so far!”)_. And so it goes, on and on and on. In the end, Louis doesn’t really mind though. Harry is carrying _his child_ after all, so the least he can do, is to support him and be there for him when he is worrying about seemingly silly things.

The nursery theme is chosen surprisingly quickly. Louis expected to have to go to every single store in a radius of hundred kilometres, but Harry sees one picture of a nautical themed nursery in a magazine, and from then on no other theme has even a _chance_ to get chosen.

 

The last two months fly by – and so does Harry’s estimated delivery. He’s now officially three days overdue, and he’s completely ready to pop. His belly grew drastically in the last few weeks and by now, Harry can barely even waddle.

Louis worries a lot about it, and he wishes that the baby would come already.

And then – at long last – at 3 am that night, Harry shakes Louis awake. His face is contorted in pain, but there’s also a hint of a smile lingering on his lips. “It’s starting, Lou!” Harry groans. “She’s coming.”

(Louis still isn’t sure how he managed to get them both dressed and all packed to the hospital in less than thirty minutes, but for now he’ll just blame it on nerves and excitement and just the general _rush_.)

Olivia Tomlinson is born at 11.23 a.m. later that day. She’s four days later than expected, but she’s alive and kicking – and most importantly, she’s one hundred per cent healthy. The lucky parents are exhausted and completely drained from energy, but when they’re lying there with there little family – just the three of them – they both wonder if there’s anything better than becoming a parent.

 

-

 

The second pregnancy doesn’t go as fluent as the first one. In fact, it’s like because he didn’t have any of the symptoms last time, he suffers from every annoying pregnancy thing in the book this time. He’s been frequently throwing up in the mornings, approximately goes to the toilet four times an hour, can sleep for twelve hours straight and still be tired when he wakes up and his back is absolutely _killing_ him.

But, well. All of it is worth it when he finally gets to hold Chloe. She has ten little fingers and ten tiny toes, and judging from her crying, she also has a good pair of lungs. And in the end, that’s all that really matters.

 

-

 

They don’t stop after that. In the next years, Jeremy and Lavender are added to their little family, which is now not that little anymore. Soon after follow the twins – George and Alexander – and another four years later, little Jasper comes along.

It’s now been two years since Jasper was born, and Louis secretly hopes that their family is finally complete now.

Harry has known easy pregnancies and he's known difficult pregnancies. He's endured pregnancies puking his guts out nearly every morning and he's endured pregnancies without a single trace of nausea. The only constant in all of them, is that he loved every pregnancy just as must as the last. And Louis, well. He loves it as well, really.

Pregnant Harry is a happy Harry, and a happy Harry is an equally happy Louis. (Pregnant Harry also means a horny Harry, and Louis can't really complain about that either, now can he?)

Unfortunately, everything has a limit, and Louis is pretty sure that six pregnancies _is_ pushing the limit. Harry, however, doesn't quite seem to agree. (And he’s not the only one.)

 

-

 

Louis hates mornings. He absolutely, completely _despises_ mornings. Especially when they start with Harry not laying beside him, which seems to be the exact case today.

Louis groans loudly, rolling over in bed, only to feel that Harry’s side of the bed feels _cold_. He’s obviously been up for a while then. It makes Louis wonder when…

There’s a loud noise in the hallway and suddenly the door of the master bedroom slams open. _There they are then._ When Harry’s up, the kids are never too far away.

“Papa!” he hears a voice shriek, and before Louis can even lift his head up to look, he’s being jumped by two of his children. _Devil spawn,_ he thinks.

Louis groans at the impact, and then finally opens his eyes.

“Good morning, papa!” One of the culprits shouts. And it’s _loud, loud, loud_.

“Morning, little monkeys,” he says, looking at both six year olds. When he and Harry started having kids, they should have expected it really. Louis came from a family full of twins, and they should’ve realized that that particular gene was passed on. Out of all of the kids, the twin boys act most like Louis. They are full of mischief and can both drive him absolutely crazy, but he loves them to death.

“Time to wakey-wakey, papa!” George says, and Louis smiles.

Alexander whines then. “C’mon, papa. You’ve been sleeping for _so long_ , and daddy _promised_ you’d play football with us today.”

George nods in agreement. “Yes papa, even Olivia is up! You’ve been sleeping the longest of _everyone_.”

Louis frowns at that and looks at the clock. It’s almost 10 o’clock. Louis can’t even remember the last time he slept this long. Ever since they had children, his sleeping schedule has drastically changed. Harry must have decided to let him sleep today though, and he probably told the kids not to bother him, since they have the opinion that whenever _they_ are up, both Louis and Harry should be up as well. Louis loves Harry.

“Well, we can’t have that, now can we?” Louis says, and then he starts tickling the both of them, making them giggle and scream loudly.

That’s when a third face appears in the door opening. “Papa, daddy told us to wake you up, because the bacon and eggs are ready.” Jeremy’s soft voice says. “We can’t start eating them until you’re up though, so please hurry.”

He says it so politely that Louis takes a second to appreciate how he and Harry raised their kids. They’re good at this, honestly.

Louis moans at the thought of bacon and eggs. So it’s _that_ kind of Sunday. (It’s one of Louis’ favourites, no doubt.)

“I’ll be right there, Jeremy! I won’t keep you waiting, promise.” He says, as he (carefully) pushes George and Alex of his chest to roll out of bed.

“Now,” he says loudly, looking at all the three kids in the room. “First one at the kitchen table gets breakfast first!” He shouts, and he takes off, closely followed by Jeremy, with George and Alex trying to catch up with them.

(Louis is the first one to reach the kitchen, but in the end he’s a bit too distracted and Jeremy snatches away his seat right under Louis’ eyes. (Louis’ll get over it.)

As for now, Louis only has eyes for his husband. Harry’s only wearing his jeans shorts with a kitchen apron thrown over it and Jasper is babbling happily from where he’s sitting on Harry’s arm. (Louis doesn’t blame him; he personally knows that Harry’s arms are a very good place to be.)

“Hi babe,” Louis says as he steps closer to Harry, pressing a kiss against his sleep. “Thanks for letting me sleep in,” he then whispers in his ear, making Harry giggle.

“Morning, darling,” he says back. “It was my pleasure,” he says. “You deserved it. I know you’ve had a busy week at work.”

That Louis had. He was barely twenty-one when he started his record label with Liam. And although they had a rough start, it grew out to be a booming business. They have tons of artists signed to him, and a few of them are _very_ successful. Luckily, because they _do_ have to provide for seven children. Surprisingly enough, they never really had any trouble with that. Louis has his record label, and Harry’s a primary school teacher, which works out perfectly, since his work hours ensure that he still has enough time to take care of the kids before and after school.

Jasper catches sight of Louis then, and he giggles loudly. “Papa!” He squeals, in his cute baby voice – at two years old, he might not be really considered a _baby_ anymore, but Louis doesn’t like to be reminded about that.

Louis coos at him. “Hi my baby boy, how are you today?” He reaches out to take Jasper from Harry and then places him on his hip, so Harry has his hands free to serve breakfast.

“Olivia, Chloe and Lavender!” Harry shouts loudly then. “Breakfast’s ready! Those who are not here in the next 30 seconds won’t get any bacon!”

(It works, the three of them manage to be at the table in less than 20 seconds.)

“Morning, papa,” Olivia chirps, and Chloe and Lavender both greet him as well.

“Morning, princesses.” Louis replies, knowing which reaction that’ll get.

And as predicted, Chloe groans loudly. “Pa, that endearment stopped being nice two years ago. I’m thirteen, and Olivia’s sixteen. We stopped wanting to be princesses ages ago.”

Louis wishes she would stop reminding him of their ages. His babies are definitely growing up too fast. Jeremy just turned eleven, and Louis isn’t sure if he’s already over that! He chuckles. “You’ll always be princesses to me, Chloe. You know that.”

Chloe rolls her eyes at that, but the smile on her face shows that she doesn’t really mind.

Lavender huffs then. “I still like being called a princess, papa, I’m only eight. You can call me whatever you want.” She sticks her tongue out at Chloe, but Chloe just chuckles in return.

“You _are_ still a princess, Lav. Don’t worry,” Olivia says. “Dad and papa will always see you as one, even when you’re not eight anymore.”

Louis shoots Olivia a grateful look.

“That’s one hundred per cent true.” Harry says then, before placing the bacon and eggs on the table. “Now, who wants some eggs?!”

Louis flops down on his chair and sighs happily. He absolutely _hates_ mornings, but he absolutely, completely _loves_ his family.

 

-

 

It’s only late in the evening that day that Harry and Louis get some time to themselves. The younger kids are sleeping tight by now, and while Olivia and Chloe might still be awake, they are also in their rooms.

“I love days like these,” Harry sighs, as he lays down on the couch and places his head on Louis’ lap.

Louis combs his fingers through Harry’s long curls and softly chuckles. “Me too,” he admits.

Today was when one of the rare days that none of their kids had to be somewhere else, so they got to spend the whole day with the load of them. It was busy, yes, but Louis and Harry absolutely loved days like that. (Of course they also enjoyed the days that were a bit calmer and the days that they got time for themselves, but all of their days were precious to them.)

“Lou,” Harry says quietly then, making Louis still his fingers in Harry’s hair.

“Hmm?” he hums to show Harry he’s listening.

Harry bites his lip and turns his head to look straight up at Louis. “I was thinking…” he says carefully. “Maybe it’s about time we started trying again for another one?” he seems a bit hesitant to say it.

Louis draws in a deep breath, making Harry sit up straight again. Harry starts rambling then. “I mean, just because it took us quite a while to get pregnant last time, and like, Jaspers already _two_ right now, so maybe like. I mean…” He doesn’t really finish his sentence.

“You… You want another one?” Louis carefully says. He tries not to come off too strong, but he doesn’t manage to completely hide away his shock.

Harry frowns. “… Yes?” he says after a pregnant pause. “I thought… I thought you did too? I mean, we always used to say that we’d like to have an even number, and well. Seven is not an equal number?” The confusion is obvious in the way his voice slightly trembles.

“I know,” Louis mumbles. “I just didn’t think that… After what happened with your last pregnancy…” The rest of his sentence is left unsaid, but Harry knows what he means.

Last pregnancy was, well. It was _hell_ , basically. They never had any trouble with getting pregnant. Every time they decided to start trying again, it only lasted a couple of months for them to succeed, but with Jasper, that had been totally different.

The twins were two years old when they decided to try again. It didn’t turn out to be that easy this time. No matter how hard they tried, Harry didn’t get pregnant. They had countless doctor’s appointment, but a lot of those doctors didn’t even really seem to want to help them. (“ _Look, Mr. and Mr. Tomlinson, you already have six kids. That’s more than most parents can say, so maybe you should just enjoy that.”)_

After two years of trying, they decided to take a little break. It was slowly starting to tear them apart from the inside, and maybe those people were right; maybe they should just settle for the six lovely children that they already had. And then the impossible happened – Harry unexpectantly got pregnant again.

If they thought getting him pregnant again was the hard part, they had been deadly wrong though. His pregnancy was _hard_ , really hard. There were so, so many complications and in the end, Jasper ended up being born almost two months too early. After spending some time in the NICU though, he was declared healthy enough to take home, and so Harry and Louis brought home their little fighter Jasper.

Harry understands why Louis might be a little reserved to another pregnancy, but that doesn’t change that he _really_ want this. Harry wants an eight baby. He just wants to experience the wonders of being pregnant one last time, as he didn’t really get to enjoy it last time around, and he’s always dreamed of having eight kids. Now that he’s so close to actually realizing his dream, he really wouldn’t want to give that up.

“Look love,” Louis says then. “I just don’t think I’m ready for that. Maybe I won’t be ready ever again, even. Just… I don’t ever want to go through what we went through last time again. I don’t want _you_ to go through that again.” He continues.

Harry nods, feeling slightly defeated. “Okay,” he whispers. He loves Louis more than anything (along with their children, of course) and if that’s what Louis really wants, Harry will take peace with that. _For now_ , at least.

 

-

 

“Wanna wear the stripy shirt and the green trousers, papa,” George whines for about the tenth time in five minutes.

Harry sighs, crouching down so he’s on eye-level with the six-year old. “I’ve told you, you’ve worn those for two days already. That shirt is just dirty, little man. You can’t wear the same thing all the time, you know!”

George pouts, looking down at the shirts Harry is holding in his hands. He clearly doesn’t like the choices he’s given. “But papa, Lav wears the same thing _all the time_! If she can do that, why can’t I?” The big frown on his face shows that he really doesn’t understand why he can’t wear the stripy shirt again.

Harry bit his lip, trying to suppress his laughter. “Lavender doesn’t wear the same thing everyday, silly boy. Only on weekdays, and you know that that’s her school uniform! She _has_ to wear those clothes for school.”

George rolls his eyes – he clearly inherited Louis’ sass – and nodded in defeat. “I know,” he said, dragging out his words in annoyance.

 _Finally_ he decides that maybe the red shirt Harry’s holding isn’t that bad and he finally lets Harry dress him.

“Daddy,” he carefully says, when he’s finally dressed. His eyes are filled with doubt.

Harry smiles. “Yes, baby?”

“Do Alex and I have to wear a uniform too when we go to the big-boys school?” he says carefully. For some reason, he doesn’t seem very keen on the idea.

Harry ruffles his hand through George’s short curls. “No, baby, don’t worry about that. You won’t have to wear a uniform, just like Olivia, Chloe and Jeremy don’t have to wear one either.”

George nods at that and sighs loudly in relief. “Good, because I _really_ don’t think I’d like to wear one.”

Harry raises his eyebrows at that. “Why’s that?”

George leans in to whisper in Harry’s ear, as if he’s telling him his biggest secret. “You can’t tell anyone – but I don’t think I’d like wearing a skirt very much.”

Harry suppresses a laugh. “That’s quite okay, Georgie. They’re not for everyone, I guess.”

George seems satisfied with that answer, and he’s about to say something else when Alexander runs into the room. “George, we have…” He shouts, but he stops when he sees Harry’s in the room.

Harry frowns in suspicion, wondering what Alexander is planning to do now. George and Alex are two young copies of Louis, honestly. Harry spends a lot of his days with cleaning up their messes and dealing with their so-called pranks. (It’s quite endearing actually, Harry doesn’t really mind.)

“Oh, hi dad!” Alexander says then and he steps forward to wrap his arms around Harry, who’s still crouching down.

“Hi Alex,” he says, pressing a kiss against his cheek. This is met with a loud _eeeeww_ from both Alex and George, and Harry chuckles.

“Why did you come in screaming for George?” Harry says.

Alex eyes widen, confirming Harry’s suspicions that he’s up to something.

“Nothing,” Alex says, but he says it a bit too fast to be believable. He must realize it himself, because he sighs in defeat.

“I just,” he starts, and Harry waits for him to continue. “I was just wondering when we were getting another baby.”

Harry raises his eyebrows. He was _not_ expecting that answer. “What do you mean, Alex? Do you… Do you want another baby in the house? Jasper is only two, babe.” He says softly. His heart is beating a bit too fast, though. Harry has secretly been craving to be pregnant again for weeks, but he knows Louis doesn’t really want more kids. Which is, you know. Pretty understandable, since they already have _seven_ of them.

“Well,” Alex says, and Harry can see that he not so subtly elbows George in the ribs, as if to get him talking as well. “I know Jasper is still very little, but…”

George interrupts him. “Look daddy, we are already big brothers, because of Jasper. But there’s no girl baby! We also wanna be big sisters!”

Once again, Harry has trouble with suppressing his laughter. He doesn’t even bother explaining that that’s not really how it works, and that having another baby girl won’t make them big _sisters_. “Well,” he starts, but he doesn’t really have a clue of what to say. “It’s not really that easy, boys.”

George and Alex pout. “Why not, daddy?” George whines. “Can’t you and daddy just go to the store and buy another baby?”

At that, Harry does laugh softly. “That’s not really how it works. You know that, right? Remember when we were waiting for Jasper? How he first had to grow in my tummy?”

They both seem to think long and hard, but then Alex nods. “Yes, I remember. But, daddy?” He asks.

“Yes?” Harry answers.

“Did you _eat_ Jasper?” George blurts out then.

Harry’s eyes widen, and then he chuckles. “No, silly.” He says, and then he pauses. How the hell does he explain to two six-year-olds how babies are made?

“Okay, come sit with me for a second,” Harry says, and he himself sits down on the soft carpet.

The two boys comply, and sit down in front of Harry. They’re clearly eager to know what he’s gonna say.

“Okay,” Harry starts. “When two people love each other very, very much –“

“Like you and papa!” Alex interrupts, George wildly nodding beside him.

“Yes,” Harry says chuckling, “Just like me and your papa.” He brushes a curl behind his ear. “When two people love each other very much, sometimes something very _special_ can happen,” he says. “But only between two adults!” he adds quickly, when he sees George opening his mouth. He closes it again after that, so Harry was right to assume that he was going to ask if it could happen to him.

“And when that special thing happens, there’s a little baby that starts to grow in the belly of one of the two people.” Harry continues, hoping that his explanation is enough to keep them satisfied. “And when the baby has grown enough, they can finally get him out, and then the baby can be born.”

The eyes of the two boys have grown wide, and they both seem captivated with the story. “So, a baby is a little bit like a flower then, daddy?” George says, and Alex nods and continues further. “Yeah, daddy, is it like a flower? Because a flower is first a seed that you need to put in the ground, and then it starts to grow and when it has grown enough, the flower can come out of the ground!”

Harry is proud of his boys. “Yes!” he says. “Just like that. A baby is a lot like a flower.”

Alex and George seem satisfied with that. “Okay,” George says. “Then we just need that special thing to happen between you and papa again and then we can have another baby!”

Harry chokes on air and coughs. “Uh, yeah. Something like that. I’ll – I’ll talk to your papa about it, okay?”

Alex nods wildly, and George also seems to agree with it. At least the two of them will be content with that for a few weeks.

 

-

 

“But papa,” Lavender whines. “I don’t wanna get rid of my clothes!” She pouts and crosses her arms over her chest in protest.

“We’re not getting rid of them, Lavender, and you know that. We’re just giving them to kids who need them more than you do,” Louis sighs. “Besides, these clothes are just _too small_ for you. They don’t fit you anymore, so why not give them to other kids who may not be able to afford new clothes?” He adds. It was Harry’s idea to tidy up Lavender’s closet, and Louis had been appointed as the one that checks which of her clothes are too small for her.

Lavender thinks about that for a while, and then _finally_ , she nods. “Alright then. But only the clothes that don’t fit me anymore! Nothing else, please.”

Louis nods. “Thanks, love.” He pulls a t-shirt from her closet, and holds it up in front of her. “Now, please be a dear and try this on? It’s one of your older shirts, so I doubt it still fits you.”

Surprisingly enough, it all goes quite smoothly from there on. Lavender doesn’t protest when Louis tells her which clothes have to go, and in fact, she herself seems to agree that some of them aren’t _that_ pretty and that she doesn’t need them anymore.

Louis knows you’re not supposed to have a favourite child – and he doesn’t, honestly – but for some reason, he’s always had a soft spot for Lavender. He knows it’s probably got to do with what happened last year – even though he doesn’t like to think about it. The thing was, Harry and Louis had noticed from the start that Lavender didn’t like going to school, but they didn’t realize how bad it was until she began having breakdowns almost every day when she had to leave for school.

They had no idea why Lavender had such an aversion for school, until finally after loads and loads of crying and them trying to talk to her, the reason came out: Lavender got bullied at school. Upon getting to know that, Louis had immediately called the school, and while they promised to look into it; nothing really changed. In the end, the bullying got so severe, that Harry and Louis decided to pull her out of that particular school. Lavender hadn’t really minded – she just wanted to get away from there – and Louis and Harry spent a few weeks trying to pick out the very best new school for her. In the end, they collectively decided with Lavender on a school that was a bit farther away, but both Harry and Louis as Lavender had a comfortable feeling when visiting it. Most importantly though, it had a zero-tolerance of bullying. Unlike her old school – it was also required to wear a mandatory school uniform, and for some reason Lavender really seemed to like that.

She seems content now. She has been at her new school for almost a year now, and she’s happier then Louis has ever seen her. She quickly made friends – which almost had Harry burst out in tears from relief – and she regularly has them over. On top of that, her school results have drastically improved.

Louis has almost gone through all her clothes, and he’s surprised at how well it’s gone. That is, until he pulls the last dress from her closet.

“No,” Lavender immediately says. “ _Not that one, papa!_ ” She insists, and there’s a pleading look on her face.

Louis is confused, as he doesn’t really understand why she’s so keen on keeping it. It’s pretty, sure, but it’s also a hand-me-down from Olivia. “Why not, Lav? It’s old, and it doesn’t fit you anymore. We can get you a new dress next week, even!” Louis tries to convince her.

Lavender violently shakes her head, though. “No way, papa,” she says, and she steps forward to pull it from Louis’ hands and protectively wraps her arms around it. “Papa, this dress was Oliv’s, and then it was Chloe’s and now it’s mine, so now _I_ have to give it to _my_ little sister!” she states.

Louis furrows his eyebrows in confusion. “But Lav, you don’t _have_ a little sister.” He points out.

Lavender just pointedly keeps looking at him. “I know,” she then simply says. “What are you gonna do about that?” she then adds resolutely.

Louis wasn’t aware that she had so much fire in her. “I…” he starts to say, but he’s kinda lost for words.

Lavender then smiles. “You need to make sure daddy gets pregnant again, papa. And then, when my new baby sister is old enough, I can give it her. It’s tradition!” she says, and she seems very proud of herself for figuring that out.

“Honey,” Louis says, crouching down to her height. “Even if daddy got pregnant again, there’s now way we can assure that you get a little sister! It could just as well be another boy.”

Lavender doesn’t seem bothered though, and she just shrugs. “Then you and daddy will just have to keep having babies ‘till you get another girl.”

Louis stares at her for a while, not knowing what to say.

Lavender scrapes her throat then. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she says. “I have other things to do.” And with that, she parades out of her room, dress still clutched tightly in her arms.

 

-

 

“So,” Olivia suddenly says, making Harry look up from his book.

She sits down beside him on the sofa, and for once her eyes aren’t glued to her phone. Harry is confused.

“When are you gonna have another baby?” Olivia says, even though she makes it sounds more like a statement. No beating around the bush with her then.

Harry frowns. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, love.” He says, but he doesn’t sound very convincing.

On the other side of the room, Jeremy chuckles and for a moment, Harry lets his eyes linger on him. Jeremy isn’t even looking their way. His eyes are focused on his schoolbooks in front of him, but his chuckle made it clear that he’s following every word they say.

Olivia rolls her eyes. “Of course you don’t,” she says on a sassy tone. (Note to himself: talk to Louis about using sass in front of the kids.)

Olivia leans forward then, and takes the book out of Harry’s hand, putting it aside. “Jasper is two, now. Isn’t it about time for another one? I mean… At the rate that you’ve been popping them out, I’m surprised you’re not pregnant again already.” She continues.

Harry is momentarily shocked by her language. “ _Olivia._ ” He says sternly. “Watch your tone, please.” He shoots another look towards Jeremy, who’s still pretending to not be listening and looking at his homework.

“Sorry,” Olivia mutters, and she sounds genuine. “I didn’t mean to say it like that. I was just, you know. Wondering.”

Harry sighs. “There’s already _seven_ of you, Oliv. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re all quite a handful! And you know we love you all, but another baby? I don’t think that’s in the cards right now. Or ever, maybe.” He says, and he can’t help but feel a little disappointed at his own words.

Olivia doesn’t seem to understand, and she frowns. “You want another baby though. I saw you look at Barbara’s belly when she and uncle Niall came to visit last week. She’s pregnant now, and you clearly want to be pregnant again, too.” She looks determined, and Harry’s once again reminded that this sixteen-year-old girl is _his_ daughter. She might be more like him than he always thought.

Harry just stays quiet for a moment, not really knowing what to say.

“Does papa not want another kid?” Jeremy then finally speaks up.

Harry blinks in surprise. “I don’t think that’s any of your business, love. That’s something between your papa and I.”

“Dad,” Olivia says softly. “Be honest, do _you_ want another baby?”

Why do his kids know him so well? Harry closes his eyes for a second before opening them again. “I mean… Yes? Maybe. I- I wouldn’t mind having another one.”

“Okay,” Olivia says, and she suddenly sounds a lot happier than before. “How about I try to talk to papa about it then? And Jeremy will too, he’s better with words then I am.”

“Sweethearts, you really don’t have to do that, I –“ Harry starts, feeling uncomfortable, but Jeremy doesn’t let him finish.

“Just let us do this, dad. It doesn’t hurt to try, right?”

And well, who’s Harry to go against that.

 

-

 

It’s later, when they all the kids are sleeping and Harry and Louis are finally laying on the sofa in peace that Louis brings it up.

“H?” He says, making Harry look up from where he was watching the television.

“Hmm?” Harry silently hums in answer.

Louis bites his lip, not really sure how to say it. “Did you ask the kids to convince me to have another baby?” His voice is soft.

Harry immediately sits up straighter. “Did Olivia and Jeremy talk to you?” he says rapidly.

Louis frowns. “Olivia and Jeremy? No, it’s just. Lavender was talking about it earlier and then the twins mentioned something about it too, so I was just wondering, if maybe you…” He doesn’t really finish his sentence, but the implication is clear.

Harry sighs. By now it almost seems as if the kids all plot this together. The way they all keep bringing it up seems to suspicious for it to be a coincidence. (Harry is pretty sure that _is_ what happened. They are Louis’ and Harry’s children after all.)

“No, I didn’t ask them to do that.” He then simply says.

“Why…” Louis mutters. “Why did you think Olivia and Jeremy were the ones that said something about it?”

Harry smiles softly and buries his head further into Louis chest. “They – uhm.” He starts. “They kinda said they’d talked to you? But I swear I didn’t ask them too! I tried to stop them, even, but. You know them, they’re… Quite stubborn.”

Louis chuckles. “Wonder who they get that from…” He murmurs, as if there’s really any question about it.

“So, uhm…” Harry then carefully says. “What do you think?”

Louis is quiet for a bit. And then, after a while, he slowly starts to talk. “Harry, be honest for a second. Do you want another baby?” His voice sounds steady, but in a way it also seems vulnerable.

Harry doesn’t immediately answer. “Yes.” He then finally answers after a while. “Yes, I do. I _really_ do.”

When Louis doesn’t immediately say anything, Harry moves to sit up again. “But if you don’t want it, I can totally live with it, I –“ Harry rattles, but Louis cuts him off.

“So,” He says, effectively shutting Harry up. “How about... We start trying again right now?” Louis carefully says, but there clearly some hope hidden in his voice.

Harry blinks and moves a bit further away from Louis to properly look at him. “What?” He says breathlessly.

Louis smiles then. “Let’s do it.” He says determinedly. “Let’s have another kid.”

Harry swears his heart stops beating. “You… Are you being serious?” He sounds hopeful.

Louis nods. “Deadly serious.” He says. “Look,” he continues. “I know I said that I couldn’t handle it and all that, but like. I think I was just a bit scared? Like, your last pregnancy was literally _hell_ and I don’t ever want to you to go through that again. But, like. I kinda really want another child as well?”

Harry throws his arms around Louis then and sobs. “I love you,” He whispers. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

They just lay there together for a while, enjoying each other and thinking everything through.

“Eight seems like a good number, doesn’t it?” Louis murmurs softly in Harry’s hair.

Harry nods. “Eight sounds amazing, Lou.” He says. “Eight… Eight sounds perfect. No more after that, alright?” he sounds determined.

“Alright,” Louis answers, because when the hell are things between him and Harry _not_ alright?

 

-

 

It’s suspiciously quiet when Louis gets home from work. He got off earlier than usual, and he can’t _wait_ to have a relaxing evening. He makes a mental list of where everyone is right now. He knows that George and Alexander are still at their football practice, so that explains most of the quietness. Olivia’s probably studying at a friend's, Jasper is most likely sleeping, Jeremy and Chloe are most likely at home, but are probably keeping themselves busy in their rooms, so that just leaves Lavender and Harry.

It’s barely a second later that he hears Harry call his name. “Louis, is that you?”

Louis quickly hangs his coat and removes his shoes. “Yes, it’s just me!” he quickly shoot back, and then he makes his way towards the kitchen, where Harry seemingly is.

When he enters the kitchen, Louis is met with an unusual sight. Lavender and Harry are sitting around the kitchen table, and the table, well. It’s just _loaded_. There’s little bowls _everywhere_ ; there’s some with fruit in them, some with chocolate, some even with cheese, some with all kinds of sauces like caramel and strawberry. And to top it all off, in the middle of the table is a big stack of pancakes.

“Hi Lou!” Harry says happily. “You’re home early. I didn’t expect you for at least another hour.”

Louis moves across the kitchen till he’s standing beside them and he presses a sweet kiss to Harry’s lips. “Yeah, it wasn’t very busy today, so I managed to leave early.” He says, and then he focuses on Lavender.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Louis says, and he presses a kiss on top of her head.

Lavender giggles. “Hi papa! Look!” She exclaims, as she points towards all of the bowls. “We’re having a super-tastic pancake-topping-tasting!”

Louis blinks at that. “So I can see…” He says, but he’s still slightly confused.

“I’m a big fan of bacon and mango,” Harry says, making Louis cringe at the seemingly awful combination. Harry just continues, “But Lav swears apple and caramel is the way to go,”

Louis chuckles. “Okay,” he starts. “How about this, Lavender…”

Lavender immediately looks up at him.

“You go upstairs and take a shower – because if I’m not mistaken, there’s chocolate sauce and princess sprinkles in your hair,” Louis says. “And in the meanwhile, your dad and I clean up the kitchen.”

Lavender frowns for a second, as if she’s thinking about it really hard. “Okay!” She then squeals. “But only if you brush my hair afterwards.”

Louis nods and holds his hand out for a high five. “Deal.” He says.

“Deal!” Lavender shouts back, as she slaps her hand against Louis’. Then she makes her way to the bathroom as fast as possible.

Louis sighs and allows himself to sit down on the chair that was previously occupied by Lavender. “Sooo,” he says, drawing the word out. “What’s this all about?” He points out all the bowls and softly chuckles.

Harry groans and moves to lean his head on Louis’ shoulder. “Baby was craving pancakes.” He then simply states.

Louis smiles widely at that, and he moves to lay his hand on Harry’s belly. They found out about a month ago, and ever since then, every moment seems to pass in a haze. “Yeah? And did baby also tell you that bacon and mango was a good idea?” Louis asks, and the smile on his face translates into his voice.

“Yes,” Harry says, “Bacon and mango was a _very, very_ good idea. I’m tired now, though.”

Louis can’t imagine the combination to be any good, but for now he’ll just blame it on pregnancy hormones. It’s quiet for a while then.

“I was thinking,” Louis then carefully says. “Maybe it’s about time to tell the kids?”

A smile makes its way to Harry’s face. “Yes!” He says, and even though he mainly sounds tired, there’s also a hint of excitement in his voice. “How about this weekend? I have already worked out an amazing idea.”

“Okay babe,” Louis answers. “Whatever you want.” He gently strokes Harry’s hair, knowing how much he loves that.

“It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?” Harry then says. “I mean, this is really the last time that we’re going through this…”

Louis hums in agreement.

“I’m gonna miss being pregnant,” Harry pouts, and Louis doesn’t doubt that he’s being serious.

“Cheer up, babe,” Louis says. “You’ve still got seven more months to go. Think about this conversation when you’re complaining about your bladder in a few weeks.”

Harry groans, but then he giggles softly. “You’re being mean.” He says.

“Am not.” Louis denies.

“I love you,” Harry then says, as if it’s an appropriate come back. (Maybe it is.)

Louis smiles. “I love you too, H,” he says, and then he pauses for a bit. “Always.”

 

-

 

“Okay,” Harry says, as he nervously looks at Louis. They’re standing side by side in the living room with all seven children sitting in front of them. Jasper is on Jeremy’s lap – babbling contently about God knows what – and the rest of them are all squeezed on the sofas against one another. It’s a rare sight, really – all of them together. There’s dinner and stuff, but they’re rarely all in the same room together during the day. This can only mean one thing - and all the kids know it: family convention.

“Will this be long?” Olivia quickly asks. “Because I’m meeting some friends of mine in…” She looks at the watch on her wrist. “Approximately an hour.”

Louis nods reassuringly, as he wraps on arm around Harry’s waist – trying to put him at ease. “We’ll be done by then, don’t worry.”

Olivia nods, and then all seven of them are looking at Harry and Louis – waiting for them to say something.

“Okay,” Harry repeats. “So, your papa and I have a little surprise for you.” He looks at Louis and nods. Louis immediately moves behind the couch to grab some perfectly wrapped present – with a little bow on them, of course.

“Presents!” George and Alex both shout in excitement.

Harry smiles. “Okay, so there’s one for each of you. And the reason that you’re getting them, is that, like. Some people keep confusing you with each other, cause there’s like… Quite a lot of you. And this will help them to keep you apart.” Harry can see Louis smiling at him out of the corner of his eye, then he throws each present towards the rightful receiver.

The last one left is for Jasper, and Harry carefully lays it down on his lap, laughing when he start clawing at it. In the meanwhile, Alex and George have already torn theirs apart, just like Chloe and Lavender. The only ones who are taking their time with opening it, are Olivia and Jeremy – but that’s mostly because he has Jasper squirming on his lap.

“Ooooh,” Olivia then says, folding out the t-shirt. “This is really nice, thank you!” She smiles wildly at Harry and Louis, and holds her new t-shirt in front of her. **‘THE OLDEST ONE’** it says.

“Thanks, dads,” Chloe says with a small smile. “This is quite nice.” Chloe has never been one to show a lot of emotion. She’s quite introvert and likes to pretend she’s cooler and hipper than all the rest of them. Hence why her shirt says **‘THE COOL ONE’**.

George and Alexander have some trouble reading what theirs say, but finally figure out that George’s says **‘THE CHEEKY ONE’** and Alexander’s says **‘THE OTHER CHEEKY ONE’**. Those pretty much speak for themselves, and George and Alex both start giggling.

Lavender blushes and thanks her parents profoundly when she sees that hers says **‘THE CUTE ONE’** , and honestly, her actions just confirms what her t-shirt says.

Jeremy’s says **‘THE SMART ONE’** , since he’s honestly one of the brightest kids of his age that Harry has ever met. He nods gratefully at both Harry and Louis, and then starts to help Jasper out, since he hasn’t really figured out how to unwrap his present. Jeremy draws in a breath when he sees Jasper’s little shirt, and Harry bites his lips and throws another nervous look towards Louis.

“What does it say, Jer?” Olivia asks, and she reaches out towards the shirt to look what it says. “This says…” Olivia’s sentence stocks in her throat. She looks at Louis with wide eyes, but a smile spreads on her face. “Does this mean what I think it means?”

Lavender is tired of being left out then, and promptly walks over to take the shirt out of their hands. “The…” she starts to read out. She has still some trouble with reading, so it takes her a little while to figure out what it says. “ _The youngest big brother_ ,” she then says, and the moment she says it, she starts frowning.

“But daddy,” Lavender says. “This can’t be right, because Jasper is not a big brother! Just a little one.”

Chloe gasps then, while George and Alexander don’t even seem to have noticed the commotion and have start bickering about whose shirt is better.

Louis scrapes his throat then. “There’s, uhm.” He starts, carefully looking at them all. “There’s actually one more.” He points towards Harry, who removes his hands from his back, only to hold a romper in front of his belly. **‘THE NEWEST ONE’** it says, in big, bold letters.

It’s so small – so very, very small – that it’s obviously not meant for Jasper, but for a newborn.

“You’re pregnant?!” Jeremy shouts then. He holds Jaspers arms up in the air, as if he’s cheering them on.

Olivia immediately makes their way towards them, and throws her arms around them, pulling them into a hug. “Congratulations!” She squeals, “I’m so happy for you! And also a little bit for me!” she continues, and then she pulls away from them.

George and Alexander finally seem to understand what just happened, and they as well run towards Harry and Louis. George immediately presses his ear to Harry’s belly, and then after a few seconds, he turns towards Alex. “I can’t hear them, Alex. Would you try, please?” Louis laughs at that. “You won’t be able to hear them, George. You’ll probably be able to feel them later on, but it’s still too early for that.” He says.

Alex pouts. “But where’s the fun in that, papa?”

In the meanwhile, Lavender has changed into her new shirt and is currently pulling Jasper’s new one over his head as well. She shoots a beaming look towards Harry and Louis. “I get to be a big sister. _Again_.” She says, and her voice bursts with pride.

The only one who doesn’t really seem to have any reaction at all, is Chloe. When Louis notices this, he immediately moves to sit next to her. “Hi, love,” he says, as he puts his arm loosely around her shoulders. “You okay?”

Chloe rolls her eyes. “Was that all for today? Or if there’s something else you wanna tell us?”

Louis’ eyebrows furrow in confusion. “What? Aren’t you happy about this?” he says, but his voice sounds barely more than a whisper.

Chloe then shoves his arm off her shoulders and stands up. “You telling that you’re having another baby was fun the first time around, and maybe the second time was okay as well. But after the third time, it gets a bit old.” She says, and her voice is filled with bitterness.

Before anyone really has a chance to react to that, she storms out of the living room towards her bedroom – leaving a perplexed Louis and Harry behind.

It stays quiet for a while after that, and the atmosphere in the room that was so uplifting before, now feels tense.

“Do you want me to go talk to her?” Olivia asks carefully then. Even though she and Chloe argue a lot, they are also always there for each other and understand each other really well.

Harry shakes his head. “No love, thank you,” he sighs, and his eyes have a quiet conversation with Louis’. “I think this is something we need to do. I’ll go talk to her,” he says, and with that, he makes his way towards her bedroom.

The bedroom door is firmly shut, and after a few seconds of trying to think of what to say, Harry carefully knocks two times. “Chlo? Can I come in please?” he says cautiously.

There’s no answer for a while, but then finally she answers, voice sounding small. “Okay.”

Harry opens the door, and when he’s stepped into the room, he immediately closes it again behind him. All their kids have the tendency to be rather nosy, and this is something they have no business with.

Chloe is lying on her bed, but when Harry steps in the room, she moves to sit up against the pile of pillows that she always insists is necessary for her to sleep well. “I’m sorry for acting like a brat,” she rushes out to say, and she sounds truly sorry. “It was… Uncalled for.”

Harry smiles softly and moves to go sit beside her. “You weren’t acting like a brat,” he says softly, making Chloe raise her eyebrows and looking at him questioningly. “Okay, maybe you _were_ acting a bit like a brat, but like. I’m sure you had your reasons?” Harry says, and he isn’t sure whether that’s a question or a statement.

Chloe doesn’t say anything, but she leans into his side and cuddles up to him.

“What’s going on, Chloe?” Harry says softly, as he wraps his arm around her. “Tell me what’s wrong, please.”

Chloe sighs and then bites her lip. “It’s stupid,” she groans, shaking her head.

Harry slightly smiles at that. “I’m sure it’s not as stupid as you think it is.” He says, poking her side.

Another deep sigh, and then Chloe’s opening her mouth again. “I just… I _am_ happy that you’re pregnant again, dad. Really. I’m sorry about how I reacted, but it’s just…” She leaves the rest of her sentence hanging in the air, and buries her head further in Harry’s shoulder.

“Just what?” Harry whispers, combing his fingers through her long, blonde hair. He isn’t quite sure what’s bothering her, but by now he has an idea to where to where this is going.

“There’s just…” Chloe starts, and then she pauses, trying to find the right words. “There’s just so many of us – children, I mean – and…” Her voice sounds tense and small, and she seems a little scared to say it.

Harry encouragingly squeezes her shoulder.

“Sometimes I just worry that…” Chloe anxiously continues. “That you’ll forget about me, I guess. And that you don’t like me as much as the rest, because I’m… Different. And I _know_ I can be rude to you sometimes, but I don’t mean to be, I just - …. Like to have your attention.” She rambles, as if she’s going to lose her courage if she doesn’t get it all out now.

Well, then. Harry’s always known that Chloe is rather introvert and keeps a lot of her feelings bottled up like this, and he’s actually glad that for one time, Chloe is opening up to him.

“We’ll never forget about you, babe,” Harry says, and he pulls her even closer to his side. “You’re still one of our girls! You’ll always be.” He pauses for a bit. “The fact that you like different things than the others doesn’t mean that we love you any less. We love _all_ of you. _Equally._ ”

Chloe lifts her head slightly. “I… I know,” she then huffs. “I’m really sorry,” she says, wiping her eyes. “I just. Sometimes I just need to be reminded of that? Everything’s just been really busy the last few weeks for me, and I feel like, maybe this was sorta the last straw for me?”

“That’s okay, Chloe,” Harry says, and he lays his hand on her cheek. “You can’t always keep your feelings bottled up like this, babe. Just know that… Whenever you feel like things are getting a bit too much, you can _always_ talk to your papa or me. We’ll always make time for you, babe. Sometimes we just need a little reminder of that too, so you have to let us know. We can’t read your mind, sweetie.” He says, and he tries not to come off as overly patronizing.

Chloe takes her time to let Harry’s words sink in, and then finally, she nods. “Okay,” she says. “I’ll try. Just… I love you, dad. And papa too, okay? And I _am_ happy about the baby, but I think I just need some time to get used too it.”

Harry smiles. “You can take all the time you want, baby.” He says. “And I love you too. More than you’ll ever know. Don’t ever forget that, okay?”

Chloe smiles and nods then. “Okay.” And then she quickly throws her arms around Harry to wrap him in a hug.

And that’s how Louis finds them ten minutes later: still wrapped tight around each other - making sure to let each other know that they’ll never be alone.

 

-

 

Mia Tomlinson is born on the fifth of August. She stuns everyone with her wide, blue eyes that seem to stare straight into your soul. She is completely healthy, and already has a head full of dark curls. Harry’s last pregnancy actually turned out to be one of the easiest and resembled his first pregnancy a lot, as he didn’t really have any trouble with symptoms and complications.

The nurses are quite shocked when they give permission to the siblings to enter the room, and no less than seven children walk in.

And Harry and Louis, well. They are the happy parents of yet another beautiful child, and in that moment – in the overly warm hospital room, surrounded by the people they love most – they know. _Their family is finally complete._

**Author's Note:**

> I really like knowing what people think, so please let me know! Also, kudo's and comments make me very, very happy ;)  
> (Also, I promise I chose the name Olivia before we even knew the setlist of MITAM, haha)
> 
> Feel free to contact me on twitter/tumblr if you have any questions or if you just feel like having a chat ;)  
>  **tumblr:** [brightbluelou](http://brightbluelou.tumblr.com)  
>  **twitter:** [brightbluelou_](http://twitter.com/_colourthesky)


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